Abraham

Book of Creation

("Sefer Yetzira", 18th century B.C., the abridged version)

Part 1

1. The Divine force established its rule, might, eternity and unity through thirty-two secret paths of the
descending Upper light and concealed itself in three categories: The book, the story-teller and the
story.

2. Ten Sefirot of concealment of the Divine force manifest in twenty-two principal properties: Three
root forces, seven doubles and twelve simple ones.

3. Ten Sefirot of concealment correspond to the ten fingers: Five against five, they act in unison, as a
union between them acts, through the power-word of revelation and the power-word of concealment.

4. Ten Sefirot of concealment: Ten and not nine, ten and not eleven. Comprehend this by attaining the
higher wisdom and be wise with understanding. Analyze and probe them, synthesize and summarize
them, return the disassembled parts to their place in the Divinity.

5. Ten Sefirot of concealment: They have no beginning and no end. Their good and evil are boundless.
Their exaltedness and lowliness are infinite, but one Divine force eternally governs all of these
properties from above.

6. Ten Sefirot of concealment: Their vision is like lightning. No tongue can describe them completely,
but one should discuss them again and again. Research the Divine force through them by the pure
analysis of your speech.

7. Ten Sefirot of concealment: They veil and sparkle. Their end is embedded in their beginning, and
their beginning in their end, like a flame in a burning coal. Their Master is one Divine force and there
is no other. One can only define it through its actions.

8. Ten Sefirot of concealment: Bridle your mouth from speaking and your heart from thinking. If your
lips long to utter words, and if your heart yearns to think, come to your senses, for the Divine force is
unattainable.

9. Ten Sefirot of concealment: They conceal the Divinity that rules over the lives of the low ones, by
force, light, wisdom and law.

10. Two forces come from one and form twenty-two basic properties: Three root properties, seven
doubles and twelve simple ones. They are all filled with the same light.
 Part 2

1. Two forces come from one and form twenty-two basic properties: Three root forces, seven doubles
and twelve simple ones. Their foundation is the pan of merit and the pan of liability, and the tongue of
decree decides between them.

2. Twenty-two basic properties: The Divine law engraved them, carved them, weighed them and
permuted all that was formed and all that will be formed with them in the future.

3. Twenty-two basic properties: The Divine law engraved them in voice, carved them in breath and
placed them in the mouth in five places: The throat, palate, tongue, teeth and lips.

4. Twenty-two basic properties: The Divine law set them in a circle as 231 Gates, regardless of where
one begins and where one goes.

5. Combining each of the twenty-two properties with the others, and weighing each combination,
created 231 Gates and each Gate received its own name.

6. Reality was formed out of nothing and non-existence was made into existence. Each body consists
of twenty-two properties.

Part 3

1. Three root forces: Their foundation is the pan of liability, the pan of merit, and the tongue of decree
deciding between them.

2. Three root forces: They are thoroughly concealed by six properties. Air, water and fire emanate
from them; the roots of generations originated from them.

3. Three root forces engraved, carved, weighed, permuted and formed the other three root forces: three
in the year, three in the soul, male and female.

4. Three root forces exist in the world: Air, water and fire. Heaven was created from fire, earth was
created from water, and the air moves between them.

5. Three root forces in the year are heat, cold and calm. Heat is created from fire. Cold is created from
water and calm is created from air that moves between them.

6. Three root forces in the soul, male and female: the head, the belly and the body. The head is created
from fire, the belly is created from water and the body is created from air that moves between them.

7. The first of the twenty-two forces was set in the air, and combined with Keter. He joined one with
the other and formed air in the world, calm in the year, body in the soul, a man and a woman.
 Part 4

1. Seven doubles: A structure of soft and hard, a structure of strong and weak.

2. Seven doubles: Their foundation is wisdom, wealth, seed, life, dominance, peace and beauty.

3. Seven doubles in transposition: The transposition of wisdom is folly, the transposition of wealth is
poverty, the transposition of seed is desolation, the transposition of life is death, the transposition of
dominance is subjugation, the transposition of peace is war, the transposition of grace is ugliness.

4. Seven doubles: Up and down, east and west, north and south. The Central Chamber of the Temple is
precisely in the middle and upholds them all.

5. Seven doubles: Seven and not six, seven and not eight. Examine them and probe them. Put each of
them in its place, and return the Creator to His place.

6. Seven doubles engraved, carved, weighed, permuted and formed seven stars in the world, seven
days in the year, and seven gates in the soul, male and female.

7. Seven stars in heaven are Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon. A week has
seven days. The soul, male and female, has seven gates: Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and a mouth.

8. He made the second sign in wisdom, and bound it to Keter. He combined one with another and with
them He created, the Moon in the world, the first day in the year, the right eye in the soul, male and
female.

9. He made the third sign in wealth, and bound it to Keter. He combined one with another and with
them He created, Mars in the world, the second day in the year, the right ear in the soul, male and
female.

10. He made the fourth sign in the seed, and bound it to Keter. He combined one with another and with
them He created, the Sun in the world, the third day in the year, the right nostril in the soul, male and
female.

11. He made the eleventh sign in life, and bound it to Keter. He combined one with another and with
them He created, Venus in the world, the fourth day in the year, the left eye in the soul, male and
female.

12. He made the eighteenth sign in the seed, and bound it to Keter. He combined one with another and
with them He created, Mercury in the world, the fifth day in the year, the left ear in the soul, male and
female.

13. He made the twentieth sign in the seed, and bound it to Keter. He combined one with another and
with them He created, Saturn in the world, the sixth day in the year, the left nostril in the soul, male
and female.
14. He made the twenty-second sign in the seed, and bound it to Keter. He combined one with another
and with them He created, Jupiter in the world, the seventh day in the year, the mouth in the soul, male
and female.

15. Seven doubles “Bet, Gimel, Dalet, Kaf, Peh, Resh and Tav”: Engraved with them are seven worlds,
firmaments, earths and seas, seven rivers, deserts, days and weeks, seven years, seven-year-periods,
fifty-year-periods and the Central Chamber of the Temple. Seven is therefore beloved under all
heavens.

Mishna 16: Two stones build two houses, three build six houses, four build 24 houses, five build 120
houses, six build 720 houses, and seven build 5040 houses. From there on go out and calculate that
which the mouth cannot speak and the ear cannot hear.

Part 5

1. Twelve elementals: Their foundation is speech, doubt, motion, sight, hearing, action, lust, smell,
sleep, anger, gluttony and levity.

2. Twelve elementals: Their measure is the twelve diagonal ribs: The upper-east rib, the north-east rib,
the lower-east rib, the upper-south rib, the south-east rib, the lower-south rib, the upper-west rib, the
south-west rib, the lower-west rib, the upper-north rib, the north-west rib, the lower-north rib. They
expand and spread into Infinity. They are the boundaries of the Universe.

3. Twelve elementals: He engraved, carved, weighed, permuted and formed with them the twelve
constellations in the Universe (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius,
Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces), the twelve months in the year (Nissan, Iyar, Sivan, Tamuz, Av, Elul,
Tishrei, Heshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, Adar), and the twelve parts of the soul, male and female (two
hands, two feet, two lungs, the gall bladder, the small intestine, the liver, the large intestine, the
stomach, and the spleen).

Part 10

1. Three are the mothers (forces); three forefathers come from them: Air, water and fire. Their
offspring are the seven planets and their hosts, and twelve are diagonal ribs.

2. Three are the mothers (forces): Air, water and fire. Fire above, water below and air is the decree that
decides between them. A sign of this is that fire upholds water.

3. The world is like a king on his throne. The cycle in the year is like a king in the province. The heart
in the soul is like a king in battle.

4. One opposite the other was made by the Creator: Good opposite evil, evil opposite good, good from
good, evil from evil. Good recognizes evil, and evil recognizes good. Good is kept for the good, and
evil is kept for the wicked.
5. Three: Each one stands alone. One defends, one accuses and one decides between them. Seven:
Three opposite three, with a decree deciding between them. Twelve stand in war: Three who love,
three who hate, three who give life, and three who kill. The three that love are the heart and the ears;
the three that hate are the liver, the gall bladder and the tongue; the three that give life are the nostrils
and the spleen; and the three that kill are the ears and the mouth. And the Creator, the faithful King,
dominates them all, eternally, from His place. One over three, three over seven, and seven over twelve,
and all of them are bound, one to another.

6. He printed three books with the twenty-two letters. He created His entire Universe with them. He
formed all that was made and all that will be made with them in the future.

7. When Abram came, he looked, saw, understood, engraved, permuted and carved, and he was
successful. And the eternal Creator revealed Himself to Abram, and took him in His bosom, kissed him
on the head, and called him Abraham. He made a covenant with Abraham between the ten toes of his
feet - the covenant of circumcision, and between the ten fingers of his hand - the covenant of the
tongue. He bound the twenty-two letters to Abraham’s tongue and revealed His secret to him. He drew
them in water, burned them in fire, and agitated them with wind. He ignited them with seven planets,
and arranged them among the twelve constellations.

End of the book "Sefer Yetzira"